Salvation
by loftier
Summary: He closed his eyes, uniting his mind with the darkness that surrounds him. He accepted his cruel fate and concluded that at least in this prospect, he would obtain some inner peace upon himself.


Silence, darkness and oblivion.

All the said entities were what accompanied the pale young man. He was all alone in this... limbo as what he called it. He merely existed.

He tried talking but when he opened his mouth not one sound was heard.

Where was he? Wait... who was he?

The confused man brought his hands near his eyes, observing them intently until they made him think that HE was in fact, alive. But...was he truly?

He was not certain. Only time could te-

Time? Did time even work in this dimension? How long had he been here? Was he regaining consciousness now or had he woken up before?

Unanswered questions kept piling up in his mind but he knew that it was pointless. He was as good as dead anyway. His life had a cruel way of showing who's boss.

Though one question lingered on his head longer than the other ones.

Why was he here?

If he had done evil actions in his past life (if he HAD one even) he expected that he would experience, something, much worse. Maybe... this was already his hell, the man mused. Being stuck in nothingness, knowing that he was just... there and absolutely doing NOTHING about that fact are pretty much stated as hell.

His fate was mocking him. It was a sadistic bastard who just loves torturing him.

Now he wondered if he will be stuck here forever.

He flexed his arms and once again observed them. Turning appendages around, they appeared to be glowing in dim light just enough for him to see the outline, and that yes, he did have arms. He then shifted his gaze down to his chest. Same color as his arms, it seemed pale white and normal if not for the faint light that it gave off. He pinched some strands of hair from his face and lifted them off, eyeing them intriguingly. _'Huh, who knew that I was a redhead'_ he thought. How funny it was that he doesn't even know what he looked like.

He didn't bother to explore more about his body. He simply stayed there, motionless in the unending void.

He closed his eyes, uniting his mind with the darkness that surrounds him. He accepted his cruel fate and concluded that at least in this prospect, he would obtain some inner peace upon himself.

A brief moment after his resolution, the limbo felt heavy as if he was bearing its weight on his lone shoulders. His breath escaped from his lungs and his eyes shot open at the sudden change. He found it hard to breathe as air seemed to break away from his grasp. The whole atmosphere was squeezing him-almost to the point his lungs would have dried out. It was suffocating- _forcing _him to do something, _anything_ just to breathe normally again.

Suddenly, he was not alone anymore. The tense feeling vanished instantly, and he could have wondered why but it was quickly dismissed because-

A woman, floating a few meters in front of him, appeared out of thin air. She was glowing with such bright light as if she was basking under the sun herself. Well, she was, in a sense.

As he looked wide-eyed, he noticed that what separated them was the concept of light. There was an invisible border that made his side filled with darkness while hers was the opposite.

'_An angel,'_ he immediately guessed.

Neither had spoken a word.

The woman had a startling color of blue hair; blue. But he thought better than to judge since his was red. Somehow, this made him smile faintly. Also, unlike him, she was wearing clothes, a white gown that was more blinding than her background. And tucked beneath her blue hair was a somewhat a white flower.

He swore that he had never seen something so beautiful in his... well, considering his supposed life here.

"Who are you?" he asked softly, though he didn't even hear his own voice. The woman stared at him blankly and did not respond.

"Why are you here?" he tried again, changing the question.

The woman did not utter a word and continued to stare at him with her ever so blank features. She then closed her eyes. And she moved, hovering slowly towards his direction.

He closed his eyes as well, patiently waiting for her to come.

And then, he _felt _it. Her presence, shrouded with an all too familiar aura, had been yearning for his attention. Nostalgia had hit him when he opened his eyes. He easily recognized he- _everything _about her.

"Konan." he gasped, looking disbelievingly up at her.

She smiled softly and gave him a curt, approving nod.

He dipped his head as memories came flooding back in a flash. He remembered his identity together with all the events that happened before existing here, wherever "here" was.

Konan reached out to him, gently lifting his chin. He had no choice than to look at her straight in the eyes. Her serene gaze was the first thing he noticed. She then came close to him opting him to realize what she would do next.

She put her arms around him and hugged him dearly. With her face next to his ear, she whispered "Come, Nagato. Yahiko is waiting."

Nagato closed his eyes once more and now with tears rolling down his cheek, crying like he did long ago, and relished the moment.

For he knew that this was the last time he would see darkness.


End file.
